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MX4
Reviewed By Just Float [all]
April 4th, 2005
Version reviewed: 1.0 on Mac
I think I'm the only person that owns this synth. I've had it for a couple of months now and here's what I think. The reason I chose MX4 was because after to listening to audio demos and playing all the demos I could, MX4 had the most organic evolving sound I could find. I don't doubt I didn't explore every other possibility with every synth but it seemed like it would be easiest to do with MX4.
The interface has got to be one of the simplest I've ever used. Especially considering how complex a single patch can be. Everything is on one panel and it's very sexy looking too.
Two things that stand out are the number of wavetables that it ships with and the ease of modulation. I don't know exactly how many there are but there's dozens of wavetables, each of them full of complex waveforms. With 3 oscs and all these waveforms, you can easily have a sound that is never the same at one time. 6 LFOS can modulate almost anything including eachother. Modulation is very visual as well, you draw out the range and you even watch the value changing as you play the synth (represented by little markers pulsating all over the interface). Every "modulator" also has a slot for itself to be modulated. So you can modulate things modulating things.
Everything can be synced to the tempo. Most of the patches I make with MX4 are complex rhythm sequences. This is what I think the MX4 is best used for. You can make beautiful little clicky textured drones with tons of character without adding a single effect. So there are endless mixtures of modulation and wavetables so I think it offers a lot of sound possibilities. I can't compare the sound to anything in particular, but it does have it's own sound. I guess I'd say that it's very warm.
The chorus and the delay sound fine and work although I can't say I've ever heard a bad kind of either. You can run audio through the synth although I haven't found a reason why I would want to do it, it's there if you want it.
It comes with an easy to understand manual but the synth is so simple to use and i think I've only read the manual about 2 or 3 times.
Presets are the only thing lacking here. There are very few and I hardly like any of them. This is fine with me since I prefer to program from scratch.
My experience with support: I lost my iLok. MOTU sent me a new one promptly once I reported it. What else can I say.
Value for money: I cant compare this to other synths Ive bought as its the only one I have. I like the sound, but It isn't cheap...
Don't think it's crashed ever.
Almost forgot:
http://www.kvraudio.com/news/2959.html
Add all those new features onto what it has to offer now and I think the value for money definently comes up.Read Review
The interface has got to be one of the simplest I've ever used. Especially considering how complex a single patch can be. Everything is on one panel and it's very sexy looking too.
Two things that stand out are the number of wavetables that it ships with and the ease of modulation. I don't know exactly how many there are but there's dozens of wavetables, each of them full of complex waveforms. With 3 oscs and all these waveforms, you can easily have a sound that is never the same at one time. 6 LFOS can modulate almost anything including eachother. Modulation is very visual as well, you draw out the range and you even watch the value changing as you play the synth (represented by little markers pulsating all over the interface). Every "modulator" also has a slot for itself to be modulated. So you can modulate things modulating things.
Everything can be synced to the tempo. Most of the patches I make with MX4 are complex rhythm sequences. This is what I think the MX4 is best used for. You can make beautiful little clicky textured drones with tons of character without adding a single effect. So there are endless mixtures of modulation and wavetables so I think it offers a lot of sound possibilities. I can't compare the sound to anything in particular, but it does have it's own sound. I guess I'd say that it's very warm.
The chorus and the delay sound fine and work although I can't say I've ever heard a bad kind of either. You can run audio through the synth although I haven't found a reason why I would want to do it, it's there if you want it.
It comes with an easy to understand manual but the synth is so simple to use and i think I've only read the manual about 2 or 3 times.
Presets are the only thing lacking here. There are very few and I hardly like any of them. This is fine with me since I prefer to program from scratch.
My experience with support: I lost my iLok. MOTU sent me a new one promptly once I reported it. What else can I say.
Value for money: I cant compare this to other synths Ive bought as its the only one I have. I like the sound, but It isn't cheap...
Don't think it's crashed ever.
Almost forgot:
http://www.kvraudio.com/news/2959.html
Add all those new features onto what it has to offer now and I think the value for money definently comes up.Read Review
